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need help finding and choosing a breeder : PA or OH

Hi! I am so glad to have found this forum! I have found so much information about cavaliers, and I love all of the photos. We have decided on getting a cavalier spaniel puppy. Growing up, my family has always had cocker spaniels, which I have loved. However, we had a very bad experience with our last cocker biting at one of my children, so we ultimately had to rehome her last year. At the time we didn't know the temperament issues with cocker spaniels, because ours have always been wonderful. On our search for a new breed for our family, we came upon the king charles cavalier spaniel, and we've fallen in love! It's been overwhelming reading all of the information about the health issues associated with this breed, and it seems we need to be much more critical when choosing a breeder. I've looked at many breeders sites, but it is very difficult to distinguish the good from bad. We are located in southwest PA, and need help selecting a breeder to go with. We know we'll have to travel a little to get a cavalier pup, but are hoping to only have to go to eastern PA or Ohio. Thanks for any help with this, and if I've posted in the wrong forum, please let me know.

We don't allow public discussions of individual breeders on the board for reasons explained in the Getting Started section, but as a starting point, I do always strongly suggest contacting Anne Eckersley (if you Google her you will easily get her contacts or see her Chadwick Cavaliers webpage) as she will be able to give you reliable recommendations , or Laura Lang (Royroft). I would not consider any breeder they are not OK with (or they may have puppies). Laura is in Ohio and Anne on the East Coast, so they are near to you as well. They are both health focused club breeders.

There are puppy guides linked to from the right hand column on the main page here and please be sure to read them carefully. As you have found, there are a couple of quite serous, widespread health issues in this breed, unfortunately, so it is critical to work with a breeder who is properly health testing to do the best possible to lower odds of these coming up (with SM) or showing up in an as early onset form (with MVD, as almost every cavalier will eventually have this disease). The guides will help you to know what health certs to ask for, how to understand them etc.

This is a wonderful breed , but you are right be sure to read up on the health issues as they are one of the challenges now of owning this breed and it is so important to support good breeders who take these issues seriously and do their best to minimise them.